Method for rinsing fabric articles

ABSTRACT

A METHOD FOR RINSING CLOTH ARTICLES WHEREIN THE CLOTH ARTICLES ARE RINSED BY DIRECTING A MIST OF GAS AND RINSE LIQUID ALONG A PATH NORMAL TO THE ARTICLES THERETHROUGH TO PREVENT PUDDLES OF THE RINSE LIQUID AND THE WASH SOLUTION FROM FORMING THEREON.

May 8, 1973 E. a. BAHNSEN METHOD FOR nmsmo mama ARTICLES 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Original Filed Nov. 25, 1969 May 8, 1973 E. B. BAHNSEN METHOD FOR RINSING FABRIC ARTICLES 4 Sheets-Sheet P Original Filed Nov 25, 1969 may 8, W73 a. a. BAHNSEN METHOD FOR RINSING FABRIC ARTICLES 4 Sheets-Sheet Original Filed Nov 25, 1969 mmmm mmm mmm nmm 7 lv 8% DE 4 QOQQ Qmm mm 2% 8% m2 mm un m W 1973 E. B. BAHNSEN 3,732,072

METHOD FOR RINSING FABRIC ARTLCLES Original Filed Nov 25, 1969 4 SheetsSheet 4 675 Tax United States Patent M U.S. Cl. 8-149.1 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A method for rinsing cloth articles wherein the cloth articles are rinsed by directing a mist of gas and rinse liquid along a path normal to the articles therethrough to prevent puddles of the rinse liquid and the wash solution from forming thereon.

This is a division of application Ser. No. 879,764, filed Nov. 25, 1969, now Pat. No. 3,698,214.

An important object of the present invention is to provide a method for rinsing wash solution from fabric articles wherein there is provided a rinsing unit including a pressure chamber for generatng a mistof a gas and a rinse liquid, a rinse conveyor for transporting the articles along a predetermined path adjacent to the rinsing unit, a nozzle for the rinsing unit including two spaced-apart Walls defining therebetween a passage through which the mist is forcibly expelled from the pressure chamber and through the articles on the conveyor, the portions of the walls adjacent to the exit end of the nozzle being disposed substantially normal to the predetermined path to prevent puddles of the rinse liquid and the wash solution from forming on the associated article and thus decreasing the quantity of mist forced therethrough, and a collecting vessel disposed adjacent to the rinse conveyor in position to receive the mist and wash solution carried thereby passing through the articles, whereby to rinse the wash solution from the articles.

The invention, both as to its organization and method of operation, together with further objects and advantages thereof, will best be understood by reference to the following specification taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic illustration with certain portions in section of apparatus for rinsing the entrained wash solution from the fabric articles;

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic illustration with certain portions in section of apparatus for further rinsing the fabric articles;

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of the drive mechanism for the conveyor for the syphon-surge rinser with the rinsing and collecting units removed for clarity;

FIG. 4 is a front elevational view of the rinser shown in FIG. 3;

' FIG. 5 is a side elevational view partly in section of the rinser showing the conveyor, the rinsing units and collecting units therefor;

FIG. 6 is an end elevational view of a rinsing unit partly in section showing the relative positions of the pressure chamber, the conveyor and the collecting vessel; and

FIG. 7 is a sectional view of a portion of the apparatus shown in FIG. 6 taken along line 77 showing the relationship of the nozzle and conveyor; and

FIG. 8 is an enlarged sectional view of a portion of the apparatus shown in FIG. 7.

The rinser of the present invention is related to my copending application Ser. No. 746,157, filed on July 19, 1968, entitled Continuous Washing Method and Apparatus which was a division of my co-pending application Ser. No. 499,137, filed Oct. 21, 1965, entitled Continuous 3,732,072 Patented May 8, 1973 Washing Method and Apparatus, now Pat. No. 3,439,365, the disclosure therein being incorporated herein by reference. The rinser therein disclosed is entirely effective to rinse wash solution from fabric articles containing the same; however, difficulties are encountered due to the formation of puddles of rinse liquid and wash solution on the fabric articles thereby decreasing the amount of rinse mist being forced therethrough. The novel method and apparatus of the present invention eliminates the above described problem by directing the mist through the articles in a path normal to the articles, thereby to prevent the formation of puddles thereon.

The washed flat work 675a which exits from an orbital washer (not shown) along a discharge portion of a lower belt is fed to a Syphon-surge rinser 710. The rinser 710 includes a pair of spaced-apart U-shaped frame members 715, see FIGS. 1-7, each of the frame members 715 having two spaced-apart legs 716 interconnected by a bight 717, the frame members 715 are interconnected by crossties 718 thereby to provide a frame for the rinser 710 which is stationary and stable. The =U-shaped frames 715 further includes two lateral supports 721 generally parallel to the bights 717 and downwardly spaced therefrom, the support 721 extending between the legs 716, lateral supports 721a and 72112 extend horizontally outwardly from the legs 716 and are spaced above support 721. Four vertical supports 722 extend upwardly from each support 721 and are adjacent to the legs 716 of the U-shaped frames 715 for a purpose to be hereinafter disclosed. There is further provided vertical supports 722a also extending upwardly and downwardly from each support 721 and vertical supports 72211 extending upwardly from each bight 717. All of the supports hereinbefore described are provided as support for the drive mechanism and conveyor hereinafter described.

Journalled to the right-hand U-shaped frame 715, as viewed in FIG. 4, are a plurality of hollow shafts 725, the shafts 725 extending perpendicular to the plane defined by the frames 715 being journaled in pivot blocks 726, the shafts 725 carrying on the other end thereof sprockets 727, the shafts 725 being supported by the above-mentioned supports 721, 721a, 721b, 722, 722a and 72212. Adjacent to the U-shaped frames 715 and disposed about the shafts 725 are spacers 728, the spacers 728 being in the form of tubes for a purpose hereinafter to be explained. Positioned on the shafts 725 intermediate the spacers 728 are a plurality of hubs 730, the hubs 730 being similarly constructed to the hubs 650 in my copending application Ser. No. 879,764 filed Nov. 25, 1969, now Patent No. 3,698,214 for Continuous Washing Method and Apparatus, and-also being provided with tongues and grooves (not shown), each hub 730 supporting therearound a roller 735 formed of a wheel rim 736 and interconnected to the hub by spokes 737 extending radially from the hubs 730 to the wheel rim 736. As may be seen, the combination of the spacer tubes 728 and the hubs 730 provide relatively little room for lateral movement of the rollers 735.

There is further provided an upper endless chain 740 and a lower endless chain 741, the upper endless chain 740 moving in a counter-clockwise direction about sprock ets 727h, 727i, 727 j and 727k. The lower chain 741 moves in a clockwise direction about sprockets 727a to 727g as shown in the figure, there further being provided a pair of idler wheels 745 suspended on a pair of spacedapart generally parallel shafts 746, the idler wheels 745 serving to maintain the lower endless chain 741 taut. Movement of the lower endless chain 741 is provided by the motor means 750 mounted on a plate 751 and having extending therefrom a drive shaft 752 fixedly connected to a drive sprocket 753. The drive sprocket 753 is connected by an endless chain 754 to an outer sprocket 755 fixedly connected to a rotatable shaft 756, the shaft 756 further including an inner sprocket 757. As may be seen, activation of the motor 750 produces rotation of the drive shaft 752 thereof, which in turn drives the endless chain 754 in a counter-clockwise direction, thereby to rotate the outer sprockets 755 and the shaft 756 also in a counterclockwise direction. The lower endless chain 741 passes over the sprockets 727a, 727b, 7270 and 727d, it thereafter passes under the inner sprocket 757 and thereafter upwardly over sprockets 7272, 727 f and 727g, thereby counter-clockwise rotation of the sprocket 757 provides clockwise rotation of the lower endless chain 741 and thereby clockwise rotation of the sprockets 727 and hence the rollers 735 supported by the shafts 725 supporting the above-mentioned sprockets 727a-g.

The counter-clockwise rotation of the upper endless chain 740 is provided by a drive chain 760 between a driven sprocket 761 and a driving sprocket 762 mounted on the shaft 756 driven by the motor 750. There is also provided an idler sprocket 765, as shown. The upper endless chain 740 passes underneath the sprockets 72711 and 727i and over the sprockets 727 and 727k; after passing over the sprocket 727 the chain 740 passes under the outer sprocket 765; therefore, clockwise rotation of the shaft 766 carrying the outer sprocket 765 and inner sprocket 767 thereon provides counter-clockwise rotation of the chain 740 and thereby the sprockets 727k-k, the associated shafts 725 and the rollers 735 carried thereby. From the above, it is seen that there is provided an upper endless chain 740 rotating in the counter-clockwise direction and a lower endless chain 741 rotating in the clockwise direction.

As hereinbefore explained, the upper endless chain 740 induces counter-clockwise rotation of the sprockets 72712 through 727k and thereby counter-clockwise rotation of the corresponding shafts 725 while the lower endless chain 741 provides clockwise rotation of the sprockets 727a through 727g and thereby clockwise rotation of the corresponding shafts 725. The respective shafts 725 each support a plurality of rollers 735, the rollers 735 rotating in the same direction as the associated shaft.

As may be best seen in FIG. 5, there is provided a conveyor 770, the conveyor 770 including a lower endless mesh belt 780, the belt 780 being of the fourdrinier type wire mesh cloth and constructed of a corrosion-resistant material such as stainless steel or an appropriate synthetic material, and an upper endless mesh belt 790, the upper belt likewise being constructed of a corrosion-resistant material. The lower mesh belt 780 and the upper mesh belt 790 both are supported by and transported by the rollers 735, the lower belt 780 and the upper belt 790 being positioned to provide a laminar portion 795 for transporting the flat work 675a therebetween. The upper endless belt 790 and the lower endless belt 780 therefore combine to transport the flat work 67 a along a predetermined horizontally disposed path. It should be here noted that the belts 7 80 and 790 are sufliciently wide to provide transportation for flat work 675a composed of ten lanes of continuous sheets of toweling arranged in a side-by-side relationship.

The laminar portion 795 of the conveyor 770 contain ing the lower endless belt 780, the upper endless belt 790 and the flat work 675a disposed therebetween passes along a horizontal path adjacent to a plurality of rinsing units 800. The rinsing units 800 are identical in construction, and therefore only one will be described for the sake of brevity and simplicity. There is shown for the sake of example only, three rinsing units 800, the units being distinguished where necessary by the addition of a reference letter to the appropriate reference numeral. The rinsing units 800 each include a steam manifold 805, the manifold 805 being generally U-shaped in crossscction and including two upstanding spaced-apart side walls 806 interconnected by a transversely extending top wall 807, the side walls 806 carry on the ends thereof and integral therewith outwardly extending attachment flanges 808, the attachment flanges 808 being fixedly and suitably secured to a horizontally disposed bottom wall 809, the bottom wall 808 having a plurality of spacedapart apertures 810 therein. The rinsing units 800 are each disposed with the longer dimension thereof transverse to the path of the laminar portion 795 of the con veyor 770 and as may be seen in FIG. 6, each of the steam manifolds 805 is inclined from the right-hand side of the figure to the left-hand side of the figure, thereby to provide a larger vertical extent of the side walls 806 at the left than at the right and a decreasing volume as steam travels from the left to the right, thereby to maintain the even pressure thereof in the inlets 849.

Disposed below the bottom wall 809 of each of the steam manifolds 805 is a mixing chamber 815, each of the mixing chambers 815 being identical and including two spaced-apart diagonally inwardly slanting side walls 816, the side walls 816 having at the upper ends thereof and integral therewith outwardly extending attachment flanges 818, the attachment flanges 818 being suitably secured to the bottom wall 809 of the steam manifold 805. As may be seen, the side walls 816 of each of the mixing chambers 815 extend diagonally downwardly to a point 823 where they depend from that point in straight vertical portions 824, the straight vertical portions 824 are positioned to form a right angle with the laminar portion 795 of the conveyor 770, the two straight vertical portions 824 of the side walls 816 form a nozzle 825. The steam manifolds 805 and mixing chambers 815 are each further provided with a front wall 827 and a rear wall 828, the attachment flanges 808 and 818 being suitably secured to the respective bottom wall 809 of the steam manifold 805 by nuts and bolts 829.

Outwardly disposed of each of the nozzles 82S and suitably attached thereto are two generally L-shaped shoes 835 for a purpose hereinafter explained, the shoes 835 each including a straight vertical portion 836 suitably attached to the straight vertical portions 824 forming the nozzle 825 and horizontally outwardly extending portions 837, the portions 837 being generally parallel to the laminar portions 795 of the conveyor 770. At the distal ends of the horizontal portions 837 of the shoes 835 and integral therewith are upturned ends or guides 838, the shoes 835 including the ends 838 principally being provided to prevent snagging of the mesh belts 780 and 790.

Disposed within the mixing chamber 815 at spacedapart points therealong are a plurality of spacers 845, the spacers 845 extending generally parallel with the direction of travel of the conveyor 770, that is generally transverse to the longer dimension of the mixing chamber 815. Each two spacers 845 provides contact for a partition 846, there being a plurality of partitions 846 each extending the width of the mixing chamber 815, each partition being formed of two side walls 847 extending diagonally inwardly and upwardly from the spacers 845,

the side walls 847 being joined by a horizontally extending top wall 849, each top wall 849 being provided with an aperture 850 therein, each of the apertures 850 being in registry with a corresponding aperture 810 in the bottom walls 809 of the steam manifolds 805. The partitions 846 provide for individual nozzle shapes for the rinsing unit 800, it being noted that the spacers 845 are kept very narrow because no rinsing action is possible along the part of the flat work 675a passing directly underneath the spacers 845.

Beach mixing chamber 815 contains therein a weir 855 to provide a water storage section, the weir 855 includes a straight portion 856 extending downwardly and abutting one of the straight vertical portions 824 forming the nozzle 825, the weir 855 further including an upwardly and outwardly diagonally inclined portion 857 integral with and extending from the straight portion 856, the portion 857 also to providestrength. Suitably connected to the lower portion of each of the mixing chambers 815 is a water. manifold 860 to provide water to the chamber defined by the weir 855 and the associated wall 816, the water manifold 860 including an elongated housing 861 extending essentially along the entire length of the mixingchamber 815, the housing 861 including therein a central bore 862, the bore 862 extending from one end of the manifold housing 861 up to but not through the outer end. At spaced-apart points, along the-water manifold" 860,'there are provided aplurality-of inlet bores 863, the inlet bores 863 being positioned generally normal to-fthe central bore 862 and providing communication betweenthe central bore 862 of the water manifold 860 with the chamber defined by the weir 855 and the wall 816 of'the mixing chamber 815, it being .noted that each of the inlet bores 863 aligned with one of the plurality of apertures 864 in therespective side wall 816 thereby to provide the hereinbeforementioned communication. Each of the water manifolds 860 is further provided with rinse liquid supply pipes 865a-c leading from a rinse liquid supply to the associated manifold 860, there is also provided an inlet pipe 865 leading to pipe 865d of the unit 800d and including therein a valve 867 having a control stem 868; As seen, the rinsing units 800a-c are positioned from left to right in the direction of travel of the flat work 675a, the rinse liquid, in the preferred embodiment Water, enters rinsing unit 800d and from there as hereinafter explained to'unit 8000 to provide a countercurrent flow of the rinse liquid. and the flat work 675a, as hereinafter described.

The rinsing units 800 are also provided with a steam header 870, the steam header 870 consisting of a'horizontally disposed steam supply pipe 875 leading to a valve 877 having thereon a control stem 878 for controlling the amount of steam admitted to the header 87 from the supply pipe 875.Downwardly depending from the header 870 are a plurality of vertical header sections 870a, 870k and 870e, the vertical sections being suitably connected to each of the steam manifolds 805 by a fitting 879 disposed in the front wall 827 of each of the rinsing units 800. It should be noted that while each steam manifold 805 receives an individual steam header. section 87,0a-e, only the last mixing chamber 815a receives the inlet water from the supply pipe 865.

Adjacent the conveyor 770 and disposed therebelow are a plurality of collecting vessels 880, there being a collecting vessel 880 for each and every rinsing unit 800. The collecting vessels 880 are identical in construction and therefore only one will be described for the sake of brevity, each collecting vessel 880 includes a pair of opposed inwardly slanting side walls 881 connected at the bottom thereof to form a heart-shaped unit in cross section. The side walls 881 curve inwardly at the top thereto to form an arcuate portion 882 and therefrom to form inwardly turned flanges 883, the flanges 883 having a straight portion 884 generally parallel to the conveyor 770 and having a downwardly turned portion 885, the downwardly turned portion 885 being integral with the flat portions 884. The collecting vessels 8-80 are each provided with a front Wall 888 and a back wall 889. The opening formed between the opposed downwardly turned portions 885 of the flanges 883 is in registry with the nozzle 825 of the associated rinsing unit 800. Extending outwardly from the front wall 888 of the collecting vessel 880 is an exit pipe 890 suitably secured to the front wall 888 by a fitting 891. As noted in FIG. 5, each exit pipe 890 from one of the collecting vessels 880a, 880b, 880e, leads from the collecting vessel to a pump 895 which pumps the fluid from the exit pipe 890 through the next-adjacent inlet pipe 865 leading to an associated manifold 860. As seen in the figure, as the flat work 675a is transported by the laminar portion 795 of the conveyor 770 past the rinsing units 800a, 80012, 80010,

the fluid from the rinsing unit is collected in the associated collecting vessel 880 and drained therefrom through the exit pipes 890a, 890b, 8900 through the associated pumps 895a, 8951: or 895c and pumped therefrom into the next associated water manifold 86% or 860a, thereby to provide counter-current flow of the rinse fluid to the movement of the flat work 675a.

In operation, a rinse liquid such as water is introduced to the water manifold 860d by means of the water supply pipe 865, the amount of water being introduced is controlled by the valve 867. Water flowing into the manifold 860a enters the mixing unit 8150 by means of the plurality of spaced-apart inlet bores 863 to form a water reservoir behind the weir 855. The water behind the weir 855. increases to a level where it overflows from the diagonally inwardly turned portion 857 of the weir 855. Concurrently with the introduction of the water into the pipe 865, there is provided the introduction of steam through the steam supply pipe 875 to the steam header 870, the amount of steam being introduced therethrough being controlled by the valve 877. Steam from the header 870 enters the header supply pipes 870a, 8701; and 870s and is introduced thereby into the associated steam manifold 805a, '5b and 8050. The steam exits from the manifold 805 through the aligned apertures 810 in the bottom plate 809 and 850 in the top Wall 849 and enters the mixing unit 815. The steam entering the mixing unit contacts the Water overflowing the weir 855 thereby to form a mist, the mist being forcefully expelled due to the pressure of the steam contained in the mixing unit 815 through the nozzle 825, the nozzle 825 being formed at right angles to the conveyor 770 thereby to direct the mist of the steam and the water along a path at right angles to the flat work 675a being transported thereby.

An important feature of this invention is the prevention of the formation of puddles of rinse liquid and wash solution on the surface of the flat work 675a by positioning the nozzle 825 at right angles to the path of the flat work 675 and contacting the top belt 790 with the nozzle walls 824 thereby to prevent the formation of puddles thereon and to maintain constant the amount of mist being forced therethrough. The formation of puddles on the flat work 675a is highly undesirable because it decreases the amount of mist of rinse liquid and steam being forced through the flat work 675a and therefore decreases the rinsing action thereto.

The effluent of the wash solution and the mist drains into the associated collecting vessels 880, in the initial case vessel 8800, it being understood that a sequential operation is taken for purposes of explanation, but all operations occur simultaneously during actual use. As the efiluent drains into collecting vessel 880c, it is transported through this collecting vessel into the exit pipe 8900 and therealong into the associated pump 8950 wherein it is pumped upwardly into the manifold 86% of the rinse unit 800b, thereby to provide a counter-current flow of the effluent from one collecting vessel to the next associated rinsing unit to conserve the amount of rinse liquids used by the process. The eflluent from the rinsing unit 800c is introduced into the manifold 86% and distributed as hereinbefore described into the mixing chamber 8151: to be concurrently mixed with the steam introduced by the header 87%. As the effluent overflows the associated weir 8551) to form therein a mist, the mist is forcefully expelled through the nozzle 825b which is positioned at right angles with the flat work 675a being transported thereby. It is here noted that the upturned ends 838 of the shoes 835 insure that no snagging of the wire mesh conveyor belt 790 occurs. Likewise, the downwardly turned portion 885 of the inwardly turned flanges 883 insure that the mesh of the lower belt 780 is also not snagged.

The effluent of the wash solution and the mist generated by rinsing unit 80% is collected in the associated collecting vessel 88012 and transported therefrom through the exit pipe 890b to the associated pump 895b, therefrom it is pumped to the manifold 860a of the next associated rinsing unit 800a. The hereinbefore described process is repeated in the rinsing unit 800a, the effiuent therefrom being collected in the associated collecting vessel 880a and drained therefrom through the exit pipe 890a. The associated pump 895a diposed of the collected efiluent from tha collecting vessel 880a via an exit pipe 896 to a waste disposal (not shown). It is noted that the fiat work 675a transported from an orbital washer (not shown) contains upon the introduction to the rinsing unit 710 a considerable amount of wash solution. However, the fiat work 675b exiting from the rinser 710 contains little if any wash solution, the rinsed state being denoted as 675b.

It may be seen therefore that there has been provided a method for rinsing wash solution from fabric articles including a rinsing unit 800 having a pressure chamber 805 and 815 for generating a mist of a gas and a rinse liquid, a rinse conveyor 770 for transporting the articles along a predetermined path adjacent to the rinsing unit 800, a nozzle 825 for the rinsing unit 800 including two spaced-apart walls 824 defining therebetween a passage through the mist is forcibly expelled from the pressure chamber 805 and 815 and through the articles on the conveyor 770, a portion 824 of the walls 816 adjacent to the exit end of the nozzle 825 being disposed substantially normal to the predetermined path formed by the conveyor 770 to prevent puddles of the rinse liquid and the wash solution from forming on the associated article and thus decreasing the quantity of mist forced therethrough, and a collecting vessel 880 disposed adjacent to the rinse conveyor 770 in position to receive the mist and wash solution carried thereby passing through the articles, whereby to rinse the wash solution from the articles.

Upon exiting from the rinser 810, the flat work 675!) is subjected to a sour spray applicator 900, see FIG. 2.

The sour spray applicator 900 applies thereto a bleach spray after which the flat work 675!) is deposited upon a time delay conveyor 905.

The time delay conveyor 905 which provides time for the bleach to penetrate the pervious cloth includes drive sprockets 907 rotatably mounted on drive shafts 908, the conveyor 905 further including an upper endless belt 910 and a lower endless belt 915. A plurality of idler sprockets 917 mounted on idler shaft 918 are provided to maintain the belts 910 and 915 taut. The time delay conveyor 905 is adapted in the length thereof and the speed of rotation thereof to provide a specific amount of time for the bleach applied by the bleach spray applicator 900 to become effective.

As the fiat work 675b exits from the time delay conveyor 905, it is deposited upon another conveyor 770a which leads it to a rinser 710a, the rinser 710a including rinsing unit 800d a conveyor 770a and a collecting vessel 880d, all identical in detail to one of the particular units as hereinbefore described. As the flat work 675b is transported past the associated nozzle of the rinse unit 800d a mist of the water and steam is forcefully directed therethrough and the associated collecting vessel 880d receives the efliuent therefrom. As the fiat work 675b exists from the fourth-stage rinser 710a, it 'is subjected to an additional sour spray applicator 900a which applies thereto a sour, the flat work 6750 so designated after the application of the sour thereto being directed to an extracto (not shown).

While there hasbeen described what is at present considered to be the preferred embodiment of the invention, it will be understood that various modifications may be made therein and it is intended to cover in the appended claims all such modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A method for rinsing wash solution from fabric articles comprising forming a mist of a gas and a rinse liquid under pressure, transporting the articles along a predetermined path, directing the mist in a path normal to the articles transported along the predetermined path to force the mist through the articles normal to the aricles, wherein to prevent puddles of the rinse liquid and the wash solution from forming on the associated articles and decreasing the quantity of mist forced therethrough, and collecting the mist and wash solution carried thereby passing through the articles, whereby to rinse the wash solution from the articles.

2. A method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the gas is steam.

3. The method set forth in claim 1, wherein the rinse liquid is Water.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS WILLIAM I. PRICE, Primary Examiner 

